Marketing to schools is a challenge but it isn’t impossible. The long-lasting, fruitful and meaningful relationships that form within the education industry mean that the sector is a worthwhile, excellent space to build networks and grow alongside.
Schools are busy. The staff, busier. They typically have very long and complex chains of command too. Consequently, decisions are usually taken after drawn out and methodical protocols have finished. Knowing who to market to within schools – and businesses in the space as a whole – can be baffling. Plus it’s vital that you work with them following their processes and existing structures, not your own.
#1 Teachers are not tycoons
In a multitude of sectors professionals generally come with at least a modicum of business sense. Though when it comes to teaching, busy minds are not usually business minds. Most teachers are not business tycoons nor are they particularly interested in the commercial side of things particularly.
This means that your marketing should be specific to their needs. It’s important that they trust you. Show the value you’re providing and that you prove that you’re solving a real problem.
If they are receiving a pitch from you or reading your sales literature, they’re not going to be thinking about the same things you are. They will be more interested in knowing how your product or service will help them to hit deadlines, speed up a promotion or make their lives easier. Empathy. You must show that you understand their pains if you want any gains.
#2 Contacts can be surprising (and varied)
Hierarchies within schools and large education sector organisations vary. Sometimes they’re blurry and over time they are clear. However, there are always complexities when it comes to understanding the right stakeholders to engage with regarding your product or service.
Taking schools, for example, there are headmasters, caretakers, cleaners, pastoral support, chaplaincy, teachers, kitchen staff, technicians, school wardens, assistants and that’s just off the top of the head. Locating and contacting the right person is quite a task. It’s important to undergo research before each introduction or for each prospect.
This is very different in other sectors where the relevant individual is easily identified. Generally, those with the control are the following:
In primary schools:
- Headteacher – They do all the spending. The head is advised by many different staff members including subject coordinators and special needs (SENCO).
In secondary schools:
- Headteacher – When it comes to secondary schools the headteacher has far less centralised power, though still often being the person who signs off on changes or projects. Headteachers will allocate an annual budget for each department that is then managed by each department head.
- Heads of department – Department heads often have full remit over how the budget for their subject(s) are handled. Many schools have several heads of departments and often this means multiple stakeholders make the final decisions.
- Administrators – Admin can have some considerable input into final decisions.
- School business managers – These professionals are responsible for the allocation of the budget and resources. This includes Procurement, Contracted services (e.g IT, cleaning), Security, Admin and Marketing. For a lot of businesses targeting schools and education sector audiences Business Managers are the best contacts to approach due to the sheer variety of cost areas they oversee.
#3 It’s not just the budget
Teaching staff are looking for the best product for their students and not necessarily the school’s bottom line. After all, business finances and entrepreneurship are topics that they usually know nothing about. This presents a unique difference when marketing to certain education stakeholders over other industries and differentiates the sector in a significant way. Teachers are quite willing to pay more for the right product that fits their needs and their class like a glove: provided the cost isn’t ludicrous and value can be proved by regular exposure to your brand and by offering free value upfront.
#4 Product/service fit is the highest priority
What you are offering has to fit in with the precise goals of your target. Personalisation is just as important if not more important than marketing to businesses in other sectors. Marketing to schools can be competitive in the sense that existing product offerings are strong and so the USP’s and the value added by your product or service should be made clear from the start. You must have complete confidence in how you’re going to help your audience. Feigning faith will simply not work here.
Once a school is happy with your service, decision-makers will often bring up experience in conversations with similar colleagues across their locality. Headteachers will gossip with headteachers 20 miles away. Facility managers will chat to colleagues in facility management professional bodies, and so on. Engineering an easy way for your product or service to be discussed organically is possibly the single most important factor to consider when planning your offering and marketing to schools. Make sure it is easy to talk about.
#5 Use habit and tradition to your advantage
Schools being quite large associations are rife with the familiar and slowly-changing, yet generally robust processes and learned habits. They don’t just switch Edtech software providers at the drop of a hat. In fact, such a move would really anger staff across departments who’d be bamboozled and perplexed by such a change alongside their hectic schedule.
Schools know what they like so you’ll have your work cut out persuading them to change. This presents a brilliant “coconut” opportunity. Your business strategy could even revolve around it if you master the cracking beforehand. In case you didn’t register this analogy the first time, marketing to schools requires getting through their ‘hard shell’ and convincing them that your solution is the best, and then you can generate a lifelong customer. This is true for the education sector more than most others and it’s a great reason to target the school’s sector. As we said before, these relationships can be very fruitful or even mellow – rather like coconuts!
Final thoughts
Understanding your customer is important when marketing to audiences across sectors but having a true, nuanced understanding of the different stakeholders that you’re interacting with will provide you with a headstart in your mission to close deals with schools.
Therefore, it’s essential that you understand that teachers are not usually business-minded. Often relevant contacts can be anyone across a school and most are focused on the quality of your offering. It’s important that you demonstrate this as soon as possible and on a regular basis. It also has to fit well with their needs and they should be informed that it’s a durable purchase that can be used for a long time.
Building trust with schools will lead to a long and fruitful relationship that often outclasses those in other industries once a firm partnership has been established.
If you found this quick rundown of the differentiating factors when marketing to schools useful, download our free complete guide to marketing to schools. It will help you to get to grips with marketing to schools. Or if you are already an education marketing veteran then you can fine-tune your strategies with the updated contextual information available in the guide.
Michelle – Mailers
